2023 AAUP Updates

We were saddened to learn of the death of longtime AAUP leader John T. McNay this past Friday, October 27. John was active in the University of Cincinnati chapter, a former president of the Ohio state conference, a member of the AAUP's governing Council, and the chair of the Committee on Government Relations.

As the Israel-Hamas war rages and campus protests proliferate, institutional authorities must refrain from sanctioning faculty members for expressing politically controversial views and should instead defend their right, under principles of academic freedom, to do so.

AFT president Randi Weingarten and AAUP president Irene Mulvey released a statement condemning the attack on Arizona State University professor David Boyles by Turning Point USA operatives.

The AAUP filed an amicus brief in a case involving Tufts University's implementation of a compensation plan that requires medical school faculty to raise a portion of their salaries through external grant funding. The plan violates Tufts’s own definition of tenure, which was lifted virtually verbatim from the AAUP’s recommendations and states that faculty should have “academic freedom” and “economic security.”

An overwhelming majority of tenure-line faculty at Illinois State University filed union authorization cards this week. Upon certification, the United Faculty of ISU will be affiliated with the AAUP, the AFT, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, serving as what assistant professor Xiaoying Zhao called "a strong voice to advocate for the needs of our students, this institution, and our colleagues.”

In episode 1, we discuss grappling with the history of higher education in order to figure out how to ensure that traditionally marginalized voices not only have a seat at the table but are leading the way forward. Episode 2 focuses on how to achieve greater racial diversity and equity in higher education after the Supreme Court overturned forty years of precedent and ended race-conscious admissions as we know it.

Today, the AAUP sent a letter to the administration of West Virginia University warning that it “would view with grave concern any terminations of tenured faculty appointments for financial reasons that are effected in a manner inconsistent with” AAUP-recommended standards. The university’s board of governors is scheduled to vote tomorrow on final recommendations to reduce and eliminate academic programs, which could result in the termination of dozens of faculty appointments, as part of WVU’s “Academic Transformation” process.

After more than three and a half years, student loan payments will resume in early fall. Make sure you’re ready!